TRANSPORT IN MILTON KEYNES
Transport has been a major influence on the development
of the Milton Keynes area for thousands of years.
The decision to build the new city that became Milton Keynes was taken in
part because of the location and availability of existing road, rail and
waterway transport links.
The Museum's Hall of
Transport contains items associated with roads, railways and canals to
explain why the area's position has made it a 'crossroads' through the ages.
It is one of the newest buildings on the site, built specifically to house
the Museum's large collection of transport items.
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WHAT'S ON DISPLAY
The exhibits in the Hall of Transport cover all sorts of transport. Most
of the exhibits were used and/or made locally. Items or sections on show
include:
- Wolverton and
Stony Stratford Tram
- Wolverton Works carriage section
- Buckingham Co-Op Delivery lorry
- Ackroyd Stuart engine
- Austin Seven motor car (under restoration)
- Gypsy caravan
- Canal narrowboat
- bicycles
- motor cycles
- Wolverton Works display
- Sciences and Arts Institute items
- horse drawn
vehicles
- hand carts
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AT THE CROSSROADS!
The area that is now Milton Keynes has always been at the centre of
things:
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The Roman 'Watling Street' (now known as the A5) that
linked London with the Welsh port of Holyhead is less than a kilometre
from the museum. The road remains an important route to this day.
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The Grand Union Canal was the principal form of
communication between London and Birmingham during the late 18th and
early 19th centuries also passes less than a kilometre from the museum.
The meeting to form the company that built the canal was held in 'The
Bull' public house in Stony Stratford.
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The London to Birmingham main line railway, built in the
first half of the 19th century, passes through what is now Milton Keynes
and close to the museum. Its principal engineering facility was at Wolverton
Works.
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The M1, Britain's first long distance motorway, was
built in the 1950s between London and the north of England. It has two
junctions in Milton Keynes.
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The UK's last steam hauled tram operated between
Wolverton and Stony Stratford around 100 years ago.
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The main Oxford to Cambridge railway crossed the London
to Birmingham main line at Bletchley. This was one of the main reasons
why the British Government decided to locate its secret Station X in the
town during the Second World War.
Many of these routes passed through the area because of its
central location and position mid way between London and Birmingham,
England's two largest cities. This unique location was one of the main
reasons for developing the area into the new city of Milton Keynes in the
1960s.
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